Playing card holder



Aug' M, 1951 H. L. sTARK ETAL 2564,315

PLAYING CARD HOLDER Filed Dec. l, 1948 JNVENToRs W y. W

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Han'ry1....5'urKmml Khaflarfaol Patented Aug. 14, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PLAYING CARD HOLDER Henry L. Stark and Khattar Ead, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 1, 1948, Serial No. 62,920

1 Claim.

'I'he present invention relates to improvements in card holders and, and more specifically, to a new and improved playing card holder to be used during the playing of a game of cards. As is well known, during the playing of a game of cards, each player holds in one hand a plurality of playing cards spread out in a fan-like manner for various periods of time. The cards have to Joe held in such a manner that their front is visible only to the player who is holding them, but that they cannot be seen by other players. The rules of various card games also require a player from time to time to spread his cards out on the table, and then to take them in his hand again. It requires some skill and a good deal of practice to hold a number of playing cards, for instance six, ten, or sixteen cards, properly in one hand while the other hand is used for drawing one or several cards from time to time. Even experienced players often find the holding and manipulating of cards in the hitherto usual manner bothersome, difficult, and tiresome.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is the .provision of a playing card holder of the Character described which greatly facilitates the holding and manipulating of cards and which also reduces to a minimum their coming in direct contact with the fingers, thus preventing the cards from becoming stained, worn or damaged due to the influence of perspiration, excessive pressure, or bending and the like.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a playing card holder of the character described which offers a comparatively large space for displaying thereon all kinds of advertising matter, thus constituting an excellent advertising medium due to the fact that the advertising matter-together with the carsis before the players' eyes for long periods of time. Since both sides of our new and improved card holder can be provided with advertising matter, and since the device is being held usually in a substantially Vertical position, there is exposed to the advertising matter not only the player who is holding the device but also his fellow players and onlookers while they are looking at the back of a playeris cards awaiting his drawing of the next card. i

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a playing card holder of the character described which is light in weight, primarily fiat, highly convenient in use, and of such a simple and inexpensive construction that it can be sold at a very low price or even can be given away free to card players by merchants, manu- 2 facturers, or the like, who display their advertisements thereon.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which Will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may .be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred forms of the invention have been shown.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a preferred embodiment of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof; and

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a detail which preferably`is interposed between the two main parts of the device for keeping said parts in spaced relation to one another.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

Generally speaking, our new and improved playing card holder comprises a flat T-shaped member having a wide curvedV fiange portion provided with a slot crosswise extending from points near the lateral edges of the fiange portion into the upper major section of the fiange portion, and being adapted for receiving the lower edge portions of cards so that they may :be held thereon in a fan-like fashion. While the device can be made of one piece of plastic material, light metal such as aluminum, or the like, we have depicted in the accompanying drawing a preferred embodiment of our invention consisti'ng of three parts. The numeral I denotes a first T-shaped sheet of card board, .plastic material, thin sheet metal, or the like which has a wide downwardly diverging concavo-convex upper fiange portion, and the numeral 2 denotes a second T-shaped sheet of the same or a similar material as the sheet l, which has a downwardly diverging concaVo-convex upper flange portion that is of a lesser width than the flange portion of the first sheet and which registers with the web portion as well as with the lower main section of the fiange portion of said first sheet. A like- Wise T-shaped strip 3 of paper or of any other suitable material, which has a substantially U- shaped flange portion and registers with the lateral and lower edge portions of the sheet 2, is interposed between and secured to the lateral and lower edge portions of said sheets in such a manner that the upper major sections of the flange portions of said sheets are in spaced relation to one another, so that cards 4 can be placed therebetween with their lower edges, as is indicated by dash-and-dotted lines in Fig. 1.

The outer sides of the sheets I and 2, their flange portions, as well as their web portions, which constitute a handle, can be provided with advertising matter (not shown), so that both sides of the device are utilized for the displaying of advertisements, slogans, trade-marks, and the like.

Since certain changes may be made in the above article and different embodiments ofv the i invention could -be made 'Without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the inventionwhich as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

Having thus fully described our said invention, what We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

The combination, in a playing card holder, of a first substantially T-shaped Sheet having a web portion and a wide downwardly diverging concavo-convex upper flange portion, with a second substantially T-shaped sheet having a web portion andl a downwardly diverging concavo-convex upper fiange portion that is of a lesser width than the fiange portion of the first sheet and which registers With the web portion as well as 'with the lower main section of the fiange portion of said first Sheet, and a third T-shaped sheet having a web portion which registers with the Web portions of said first and second sheet and having a downwardly diverging concavo-convex flange portion whose major section is of a lesser width than the ange `portion of the second sheet and whose end sections are of the same width as the fiange portion of the second Sheet, said third sheet being interposed between and secured to said first and said second sheet, and the end Sections of its fiange portion registering with the ends of the fiange portion of the second sheet while the major section of its fiange portion registers with those edge portions of the first and the second sheets which are adjacent the Web portions.

HENRY L. STARK. KHATTAR EAD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record' in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France Aug. 2%, 1929 Number Number 

